Description
Vukani Makhosikazi: South African Women Speak is a groundbreaking 1985 non-fiction work that documents the lived experiences, struggles, and resistance of African working-class women under apartheid.
Compiled by a Johannesburg-based women’s study group and contributors including Jane Barrett, Aneene Dawber, Barbara Klugman, Ingrid Obery, Jennifer Shindler, and Joanne Yawitch, the book combines personal testimonies with socio-political analysis.
It explores how African women experienced a “double burden” of oppression—through apartheid state structures as well as entrenched patriarchal systems. The work highlights their crucial role in labour movements, especially campaigns for maternity rights, childcare support, and improved working conditions.
Beyond workplace struggles, the book also documents everyday survival strategies in township life, including community networks for childcare and mutual aid, as well as women’s participation in broader anti-apartheid resistance such as boycotts and grassroots organising. Vukani Makhosikazi remains an important historical and feminist text in South African social history.
